22 posts categorized "SAVE ENERGY AT HOME"

February 27, 2011

For some, the attic is just an unused (and unusable) portion of the building. For others, an attic is just a place where ducts, wires and vents can be found. For many, an attic represents valuable storage space and there are even those who convert unused attics into additional living space.

For people who use part or their entire attic, having an attic that overheats in the summer and freezes during winter can be a huge hassle. They are deeply impacted by these temperature changes, and they can feel it.

On the other hand, if you are not using the attic for storage or as a living area, you are still suffering the effects of these dramatic temperature shifts in your attic. You just don’t know it. You might have missed the signs of a problematic attic.

You probably think your energy bills are supposed to be that high, and that the icicles are supposed to be dangling down the edge of your roof because the snow is melting. Aren’t they pretty?

What you do not know is that these are all symptoms of an energy-wasting attic.

During the summer, every time your attic overheats, your house gets hotter, making your air conditioning system work much harder, especially if you have ducts running through the attic.

Likewise, ice damming and icicles are signs of energy waste. This means that heated air that was supposed to keep the living area warm is leaking into the attic, warming the roof and making your furnace work much harder.

Even if you don’t use your attic for storage or as a living area, controlling temperature and moisture in the attic by following these four steps will help you protect your home and save you a lot of money in energy bills.

1 - Air Sealing

The first thing you want to do is to take every necessary step to keep the air that you are paying to cool and heat where it belongs: in the living areas of your home.

Due to a physics phenomena called the “stack effect”, the warmest air in your home tends to rise and leak into the attic and then to the outside.

As it does, new, a similar volume of unconditioned air is sucked in from the outside, through leaks in the lower levels of the building.

Considering that 40% of what you pay in energy bills every month goes toward cooling and heating, can you imagine how much money you could be saving if you could only control or slow down that process?

That being said, the first step to an energy efficient attic is sealing air leaks between the living space and the attic.

2 - Proper Ventilation

After sealing the air leaks, the next step is to make sure your attic is properly vented.

Good attic ventilation is essential not just for energy efficiency, but for moisture control as well.

Due to differences of temperature between the attic and the conditioned area of your house, any moisture present in the air that enters the attic tends to condense all over attic surfaces. The insulation in the attic will then become useless, because damp insulation loses its R-Value. To make matters worse, condensation on wood and gypsum board can cause mold to develop.

Attic ventilation usually consists of a combination of soffit and ridge vents, but additional vents can also be installed in gable ends.

3 - Beef up the Insulation

Many homes in the US, especially in the North and Northeast, including newly built ones, suffer from the same problem: inadequate attic insulation.

The U.S. Department of Energy recommended insulation R-Value for homes in these areas is between 49 and 60, yet many homes have only about 1/3 of that R-Value.

The choice of insulation materials will also have an impact on how well it performs in the attic.

4 – A Silver Lining

You might think that a radiant barrier in the attic makes more sense for homes built in warmer climates than it would in colder areas.

However, don’t rule it out for your home just yet.

A radiant barrier improves cooling efficiency in the summer by reflecting the sun’s heat back to the outside.

It also improves heating efficiency in the winter by reflecting the heat back into the attic and living space.

That is especially desirable if you have ducts or heating and cooling equipment running in the attic. Or if you plan to use your attic for storage.

The most common type of radiant barrier is a thin sheet with reflective finish on both sides. There is also a “bubble-wrap” looking type of radiant barrier and a spray on coating for hard-to-reach surfaces.

An energy efficient attic is one of the main components of a green, energy efficient home, but is also only the first step to achieving the best performance and savings.

A building is a system, much like your body, comprised of smaller systems that work together. A better performing attic will definitely impact positively all of the other systems in your house.

Cynthia Freeney is a social media manager for many companies in the home improvement industry and currently works for Dr. Energy Saver, (http://www.drenergysaver.com) a nationwide franchise of contractors specialized in providing home energy-saving services such as home insulation, installing and upgrading furnaces and water heaters, replacing windows and doors, home energy evaluations (http://www.drenergysaver.com/contact-form.html) and more.

January 16, 2010

One of my blog readers
reminded me that I should write about using child safety caps on the electrical
outlets on exterior walls of homes. They do help stop cold drafts and save
energy in some houses.

By exterior walls, I mean
the walls of your house that stand between you and the great outdoors. They are
the walls that have windows in them.

The electrical outlets and
switch boxes that are inside of the exterior walls do not leave much room for
insulation in that part of the wall. Because of the lack of space inside the
walls, there maybe no insulation stuffed between the electrical box and the
outside skin of the house. That is why folks notice a cold draft at these
locations.

If you can feel cold air
coming in during the winter, you know that heat is also escaping and costing
you money.

Three things you can do to stop the cold draft

1. Put child safety caps in any outlets that are not being used. They safely fill the holes in the
outlet where the cold air is getting in. As an alternate, you can replace the
outlet covers with the kind that have a sliding cover over the outlet holes. They
are also made for child safety.

2. Remove the outlet
cover plate that is held on by a screw or two. Insert a foam outlet cover gasket under the cover plate and put the cover back on. These help
seal the outlet cover and add a small amount of insulation. These insulating
foam gaskets are also available for wall mounted light switches too.

3. Get a can of foam insulation sealant and squirt some in the wall behind the outlet. To get
the foam where you need it, remove the outlet cover and poke the tube of the
foam spray can in past the outlet. It is a good idea to shut the power off at
the circuit breaker before starting this job. The same method is good for wall
switches too.

You can expect to hear
some bad words from who ever is stuck with job of replacing a worn out outlet
or light switch after it has been foamed in place. The foam can be dug out
easily enough it just adds some clean up work to the job.

What about interior walls?

Interior walls are not as
much of a problem because they just act as partitions between rooms inside the
house. Interior walls are not usually insulated because there is not much of a
temperature difference from one room to the next in most homes.

If interior walls do have
insulation inside them, it was intended to help muffle the movement of sound
from one room to the next. However, since interior walls are mostly hollow,
they can act as skinny chimneys. These skinny chimneys make a pathway for warm
air to sneak in around electrical outlets and rise up into the attic.

This flow of warm air up
and out of your home will make your heating bill higher than it should be. You
should stop this escaping of warm air up and out of your living space.

There are two ways to stop
this flow of air. You can cut off the flow of air at a choke point at either
the top or the bottom of these skinny chimneys.

The best way is to use a can
of spray foam insulating sealant to seal the tops of the walls where they
connect to the attic. It may be the best way, but some folks do not like the
idea of crawling around in their attic searching for wall top openings to seal.
This job usually involves the mess of digging through the attic insulation.
There is also a risk of putting you foot through the ceiling if you make a miss
step off the rafters.

The other way to attack
the problem is from the bottom by sealing wall switches and outlets and along
the baseboards. For outlets and wall switches, you can use the same methods
listed above.

The wallboard or the plaster
part of the wall does not actually go all the way down to the floor. A
baseboard, trim wood or a plastic cove base covers the gap between the floor
and the wallboard. If you have any visible openings between the floor and
wallboard, they need to be sealed. You can use caulking or spray foam for this
job.

December 28, 2009

You can add
insulation, put in a new roof, upgrade your heating and air conditioning, or
replace doors and windows and get money back on your taxes.

Over the
rest of this year and all of next year, you have the opportunity to improve the
resale value of your home, make your home more comfortable, save some money on
your utility bills, and even get some money back from the government.Not a bad deal!

Here’s how
it works.Simply replace old inefficient
equipment with new high efficiency equipment and get money back on your
taxes.If you install new heating and/or
air conditioning, insulation, roof, non-solar water heating, or windows and
doors on your existing home that you use as your principal residence, you can
get a tax credit of 30% of the cost (up to a maximum credit of $1500) when you
file your taxes.This is a tax credit,
not an income deduction, so you get all of that back.

If you
install geothermal heat pumps, small wind turbines, or solar systems you can
get 30% back with no upper limit.New
homes and second homes also qualify for this credit.

I have an
old farmhouse that is over 100 years old.The windows were single pane and some of them were six feet tall. We
tried putting up storm windows and caulking and sealing around the windows, but
we could still feel the cold air.We
went down to Lowe’s and ordered seven new windows and a new front door.Lowe’s just finished the installation this
week and we can already feel the difference.Our tax credit will be over $500 next spring.

Next year I
plan to look at adding some insulation, since the program runs to the end of
next year and I am nowhere close to my $1500 cap.

Although my
windows and doors only qualified for credits on the material, some systems,
like heating also include the installation costs toward the credits.Check out this website for more details.

This
Article was written by my friend, by James Cartwright in December 2009. Jim is
a Certified Energy manager (CEM) and an active member of the Association of
Energy Engineers.

April 09, 2009

The idea that people have is that if they switch the main
circuit breaker off to their house for twelve hours. They think it should cut
their electric bill in half.

Folks who try it are amazed by the small amount of
savings they get. Their plan is to cut all the power off when they leave home
for the workday or while they sleep.

The problem is we
don’t use power by the hour.

Folks want to know why they don’t save much money by
shutting off the power to their home. They figure that if the shut all the
power off for twelve hours that they should save 12/24 of their electric bill.

People use electrical energy when they are there to use it.
Very little power is used when no one is home.

A couple of lists
will help understand the situation.

Make two lists of things that use electric power in your
home. The lists might look like this: (yours will be different)

Things that use electrical power while you are home and
awake:

TV screen

Games for TV

DVD player

CD player / Stereo

Lights

Vacuum cleaner

Stove

Microwave

Coffee maker in use

Garbage disposal

Can opener

Toaster

Electric fry pan

Dishwasher

Computer

Monitor

Printer

Clothes Washer

Clothes Dryer

Power tools

Vent fans

Hair dryer

Ceiling Fan

Refrigerator - door opened occasionally

Freezer - door opened occasionally

Clocks

Furnace - heat turned up

Air conditioner - temperature set lower

Water Heater – using water

Now List Number Two

Things that use power when you are asleep or away from
home:

Refrigerator – door not opened

Freezer – not opened

Coffee maker

Clocks

Furnace - heat turned down

Air conditioner – temperature set higher

Water Heater - not using water

Switching all the power off only shuts off the items on the
short list so it reduces your bill by a much smaller fraction than 12/24 hours
you had hoped for.

Yes, you will save some money by shutting the power off, but
it will only be a small fraction of your total bill. The question may be, is it
worth the hassle of resetting clocks and such. That is up to you.

Beware of food spoiling in hot weather. The cost of food is
so high that wasting some might wipe out all the savings on the electric bill
and then some.

I suggest that you leave the power on, but unplug stuff that
you don’t want wasting money while you are away from home.

March 20, 2009

Where I work, we are
expecting a four-day weekend break for Easter. I have been working on
checklists of things that should be shut off to save on the utility bills
during that time when there is no production.

Like many folks, our
personal plan includes time away from home to visit family. It is a good idea
to make an energy shutdown checklist for your home so items do not get
forgotten during the last minute rush to pack the car.

An easy way to make a
checklist is to tour the house with a pad of paper and pencil. Being a lazy old
guy my method is more like a cool drink and a comfortable chair at a keyboard
followed by a mental/virtual tour of the house. Yes, I’ll likely miss an item
or two that a real walk around will catch. I’ll do the real walk around as a
check to see what I missed OK.

Kitchen

Stovetop off

Oven off

Unplug the coffee maker

All the water faucets off

Slide the storm windows
shut

If you have a chest
freezer throw a couple of blankets or quilts over it

Bath Room

All the water faucets off

Toilet not running

Unplug the night light

Bed Rooms

Unplug cell phone charger
and pack it to go.

Unplug the electric
blanket from the wall outlet (We had a cat that would paw at the control until
the blanket would come on)

Close storm windows

I do not unplug electric
clocks

Unplug night lights

Living/Family Room

Look at each wall outlet
and decide which items to unplug

Leave the telephone
plugged in only if it has an answering machine that you want to work while you
are gone.

Do not unplug anything
that requires extensive reprogramming like a TV or cable box.

Do unplug other stuff like
the stereo

Laundry Room

Sorry, I can not make a
list for the laundry room because I have been band from entering it. As long at
the machines and lights are off I am happy.

Thermostat

If it will be above
freezing, shut the heat off.

If it will be below
freezing, turn it down to the lowest setting plus two degrees. (Some older
thermostats would turn down to 55 so I’d set them at 57 to keep it off the low
limit stop. Newer digital thermostats will turn down to 45. Forty-five is the
bare minimum for water pipe freeze protection. I suggest 47.)

Shut that Air conditioner
off in warm weather by sliding the switch to the off position.

It is a good idea to
program your thermostat to return to the normal setting an hour before you
expect to return.

Tank type Water Heater

If you have an electric
water heater, I recommend that you switch off the circuit breaker that sends power
to you water heater.

If you have a natural gas
water heater, I recommend that you dial down the temperature setting. First,
use a permanent marker to mark where it is normally set. Then turn the
temperature dial way down so it will not waste so much heat.

Tank-less Water Heater

If you have an on demand
water heater, you do not need to do anything. It will not use any energy unless
there is water flow and we are about to prevent that.

Water Supply

If you have, “city” water
shut the main supply valve off where it enters the house.

If you have your own water
well, shut off the electric power to the pump. (Or the pump will cycle on and
off while you are gone just to keep the pressure up)

Shutting the water off
saves on your utility bills and prevents water damage from a leaky pipe while
you are gone. My father had a leak start at an upstairs bathroom while he was
away on vacation that damaged the living room ceiling below.

This list is fairly
complete for our current home, but it is not
right for your home. You need to start with this list and add to it or scratch
out items to make your own list. The big money savers on the list are the
thermostat, water heater and water supply.

January 22, 2009

You can use your own hands to feel energy waste in your
house during cold winter days. Have you ever noticed that some walls in your
house are colder to the touch than others?

Feeling your walls is an easy indoor project for a cold
winter evening. Take a tour of you place and feel the walls in each room with
your bare hand. Take notes or make a sketch of the floor plan. Mark the coldest
spots that you discover.

You are not checking for the actual temperature of the walls.
You just want to find out which walls are colder than the rest. You also want a
reminder of where they are so you can fix the problem later on.

If you prefer to find out exactly how cold your walls are, I
recommend the pistol grip style of infrared thermometers that are available
now. I often use on in my day job as an Energy Conservation Engineer.

It is logical that the inside surface of the exterior walls
will be cooler than the interior walls. It is normal for the walls next to the
windows to be cooler than the wall between the kitchen and bathroom for
example. You may be surprised to find that one wall is colder than the rest.

Remember Your Walls Are
Hollow; See the Photograph

The empty space inside of the walls of your house makes a
pathway for air to flow up or down. Typically, warm air from inside your house
will sneak up to the attic using the secret passageways inside the walls.
Hollow walls waste energy when they act as an escape route for air that you
paid to heat.

Hollow walls can also provide a pathway for cold air to drop
down from the attic making the wall feel cold.

Seal Off the Secret Energy
Passageways In Your Walls

A can of spray foam insulation is the modern answer for
shutting off the energy escape route in your walls. Use the foam to seal the
wall at the floor and in the attic at the top of the wall.

WARNING: Don’t go crawling around in your attic unless you
know how to avoid putting you foot through the ceiling or worse.

WARNING: Use just enough foam to do the job. Excess foam can
cause damage as it expands.

All holes for wires or pipes need to be sealed in the attic.
You need to seal around ductwork that goes up into or down from the attic.

A small amount of spray foam can be used to seal electric
outlets. Take the out let cover off and squirt a little foam into the wall at
both sides of the outlet. Trim off any excess and put the cover back on.

You can seal light switches the same way. Spray foam is fun to work with.

What to Do About Cold
Exterior Walls

Cold areas on exterior walls indicate that there is air
moving inside the wall or that there is not enough insulation inside the wall
or both. Map out the cold spots and then talk with an insulation contractor
about having spray foam injected into the walls. Spray foam seals and insulates,
all in one application, fixing both types of cold wall problems.

The job needs to be done by a contractor who has the
equipment and knowledge of just how much to use without damaging your walls.

If too little foam is used the wall will still have hollow
areas.

If too much foam is used it will push out so hard, as it
expands, that it can split the wall open. Fixing bulging walls will be
expensive.

Eliminating cold walls will reduce your heating bills and
lower your air conditions bills too. You will be more comfortable and save
money.

January 07, 2009

How energy efficient is your house compared to other homes
like yours? Is it better than the neighbor’s house? Now you can easily compare using
the Energy Star web site.

ENERGY
STAR's Home Energy Yardstick compares your home's energy
efficiency to similar homes across the country. It also offers suggestions for
energy-saving home improvements.

You
will need to collect together a year’s worth of your utility bills. The
Yardstick program also needs basic information about your house size and
location.

Enter
your location (zip code), number of people in your home, square footage, age of
home (decade built), and energy use (monthly or one year total). The Yardstick program
will benchmark your energy use against its database of other U.S. homes.

This
will tell you how efficient your home is compared to similar homes.

Taking The Next Step

In
January, many folks like to plan projects for the New Year. That includes deciding
which home improvement projects they want to tackle during the year.

Energy
Star has another easy to use program that can help target the best ways to
improve your house to make it more energy efficient. The return on investment data
will help you choose the best use of your time and money.

The
Home Energy Saver program offers
a comparison of the energy costs (in $/year) of an average home and an energy-efficient
home in your part of the USA. The results are broken out by end-use function
(such as heating, cooling, and water heating).

An
online survey asks questions about your house in about 20 different categories
(including shape, shading, windows, and appliances). This results in a custom
evaluation of your own home's energy use.

You
also get a list of recommended ways to decrease energy consumption. Each suggestion
includes ballpark costs and estimated percentage return on investment.

With
all this information, you can make good choices about replacing appliances or
upgrading parts of your home’s structure.

December 02, 2008

A wide-screen TV can
use twice as much energy as a refrigerator! Refrigerators used to be the
No. 1 energy-using appliance in the home, but not anymore. In many homes, TVs
are the big power users now.

Don’t be surprised if you pay a $100 or more a year to
operate your new TV.

Energy use varies widely between HDTVs, even between models
of similar size. There are ways to ensure your new TV is as efficient as
possible: See this chart to compare models

Choose the most efficient technology for your new TV

There are three HDTV technologies on the market today:
plasma, LCD, and rear-projection micro display (commonly known as DLP, or
digital light processing).

A study by CNET found that, on average, plasma TVs are the least
efficient, consuming 0.33 watt of electricity per square inch of screen,
while LCD TVs are slightly better at 0.28 watt per inch. Your best choice to
save energy is DLP, which consumes only 0.13 watt per inch.

In all cases the bigger the screen the bigger the electric
bill will be.

Choose Energy Star-rated models.

On November 1, 2008, the EPA released
new Energy Star specifications. They now set maximum energy consumption limits
for TVs in both standby and active modes. Previous Energy Star rules applied
only to standby mode. TVs that meet these new requirements will be up to 30
percent more efficient than non-qualified models.

The above paragraph is made possible by your tax dollars.

Here are some ways to save without buying a new TV

Unplug the TV when it is not in use. Older TVs that
have a standby mode continue to draw power even when turned "off." But,
if it is a new Energy Star rated model don’t bother.

I avoid unplugging electronics that need to be re-programmed
every time they are powered up. I have enough frustration without the anguish
of re-programming your TV. It is not worth it.

My cable box re-programs itself, if I leave it alone, but it
takes about 15 minutes. Way too long!

Turn off the "quick start" option. Just by
waiting a few more seconds for the TV to warm up, you can reduce standby power use.
I wish I had this option on our set.

Turn down the brightness settings. Many LCD TVs also
have a backlight setting that is often set in stores to be brighter than
necessary for most home environments.

We all understand that brighter the light bulb you use in a
lamp the more electricity it uses. The same is true with your TV and computer
screens. The brighter the setting, the more you pay on the electric bill.

Tune your TV picture so it looks good when the room lights
are dimmed. You save energy on the lights and TV.

Don't
Waste your Energy on TV

Turn your TV off
when no one is watching it. If you need background noise use a radio or play
music on the boom box.

The biggest money
saver for TV is to use it only for viewing well chosen uplifting or funny video
tapes and DVD’s. It cuts the electric bill and reduces depression. When you
stop watching commercial TV programs, your personal productivity and energy
level will go up.

When the
grandchildren come to visit our TV is always broken. It is more fun to play a
game with grandpa or read a book with grandma.

While you are at
it stop reading the front page of the newspaper.Just skip to the comics like I do.

October 27, 2008

We need to bring back some of the old fashion ways of
dressing to keep warm in the winter.

When I was growing up, folks didn’t hang out at home wearing
just their underwear. As an example, tee shirts were worn only as underwear or
in school gym class. Tee shirts we hidden from view under a real shirt the rest
of the time, including at home.

Folks wore tee shirts as the first of several layers of
clothing. Men folk going to work at the office in the winter wore a tee shirt,
dress shirt, suit jacket and a tie. Plus, an over coat, hat, scarf and gloves
over top when going outdoors.

People always had boots, shoes or slippers on their feet,
even at home. When you got home, in the evening, you’d kick off your shoes and
put on penny loafers or slippers. Now days, folks walk around home with their
toes hanging out.

When the house cooled off overnight, the bare wood floors
were a cold shock in the morning. You needed to have slippers ready to jump
into. The linoleum on the kitchen floor was even colder for bare feet.

A wool sweater over top of a dress shirt was high-class
winter evening wear at home.The layered
look was not a fashion statement it was for warmth.

Most folks now days don’t even own a pair of long johns. We
sure had them when I was growing up. At least one pair of white long underwear
had blue stains from the knees on down. The blue dye was from wearing blue
jeans that got soaked through from snow and slush.

If you go farther back in history, women used to wear a
headscarf and men a nightcap when they went to bed. They piled on the blankets
and slept with just their nose sticking out. It looks funny in old movies, but
it was warmer than going bare headed.

Vests are another useful item, that you don't much see any more. They add warmth and more pockets to loose things in.

Set your thermostat no higher than 68 degrees when you are
home. Dress in layers to be comfortable at that temperature.

Set the thermostat at a much lower the temperature when you
go to bed or when you are not at home. We set ours at 62 an hour before
bedtime.

Then we hide under a quilt and a couple of blankets. One of
the blankets is an electric that we use to preheat the bed before we crawl in.
When the bed I warmed up, we turn the electric blanket off.

Electric mattress pads work like the electric blanket, just
from the bottom up. They provide good therapy for old bones.

The quilt and blankets keep us plenty warm enough. There is
one more blanket ready to use in case of overnight power failure that knocks
out the furnace.

If you don’t have carpeting, a bedside throw rug is a good
place for landing bare feet until they can wiggle into the slippers.

October 13, 2008

When I was growing up my mother rearranged the living room
furniture every spring and fall. The focus during the summer was the view out
of the big bay windows. In the winter, the focus was inward for entertaining
visitors. I thought this strange because we had more visitors in the summer.

From
an energy point of view, there a few things to keep in mind when the urge to
rearrange the furniture strikes home.

Insulate
the walls with books

In our big house up North in Michigan, we had tall
bookcases, filled to overflowing, between the windows on some exterior walls.
Books and magazines do add heat flow resistance. A bookcase placed against an
outside wall will help your energy bill both during the heating and air conditioning
seasons.

It is good to place your couch and chairs were you can see the
view out the windows, but avoid getting too close to a window where you will
feel a cold draft. The problem with sitting where there is a draft is folks
will be turning the thermostat up, even though the rest of the house is plenty
warm.

It does save on the lighting bill if you can use light from a window in place
of a reading lamp; just make sure that the window is well sealed.

Do not obstruct supply and return air ducts

Be
careful that you do not cover up either supply or return air registers. If you
put a piece of furniture over a register, it will either mess up the airflow or
block it completely.

The airflow needs to spread out through the whole room to
do an efficient job. Blocking the flow of air will cost more on your heating
and cooling bills. Putting a chair next to a heating supply register may tempt
someone to stack newspapers or magazines on it.

Return air ducts are often
located high up on a wall. I have seen folks place a tall bookcase right in
from of them. The other mistake I’ve seen is folks who try to hide the ugly
return air register. They block the airflow by hanging a painting or poster
over it. It is great to show your artwork,
but don’t cover a return air register or you will starve your heating and
cooling system.

Some wall art is
insulation too

My wife makes wall hanging quilts that add insulation value
to the 6 or 8 square feet that they cover. I know some quilters hang full size
bed quilts on their walls to display them. They are saving energy especially if
it is on an exterior wall.

September 24, 2008

This is the fourth
and last of a series of articles giving an actual example of what can be done
to convert a drafty old house into an efficient and comfortable home. Dan, one
of our readers from Kansas, graciously provided the information.

Gas
fireplace: Well with the great results of our blue flame gas heater (12,000
BTU). I had the chance to upgrade to a new gas fireplace for $200 (last years
model). Since we were kind of going for a more Victorian look in the house, the
Comfort Glow natural gas fireplace seemed to be more appealing than a white metal box hanging on the
wall. The new gas fireplace was 18000 BTU and 99% efficient. It works during a
power failure.

Front door replacement: It
starts out like this; a family member replaced their front door to one with a
big oval window thermal door. I acquired the old one. Just the door not the
frame too. Our local lumberyard carried a replacement door frame kit, which I
purchased along with the brick molding kit too.

It came with the modern door
weather stripping, like the new ones have. After assembling the frame and trim
kit, I mounted the door in the new frame. Then I proceeded to remove the old
door and frame. I needed to do a little reconstruction that I was not planning
on,

I found some dry rot and had to replace about a foot of wall and insulate
around the wall by the door. I soon had it installed and before I could install
my old storm door, the family member that bought the new door decide to buy a
new storm door that would not block the big oval glass door they just bought,
so I got it too. This one even had a screen in it, unlike my old one.

Apparently,
we did a really good job installing it when you open the front door now you
hear vacuum. You have to push the storm door shut when you go out, unless the
front door is open.

Revision 10 (2007) Summary

Energy assessment and changes

Purchased P3 Kilowatt meter (used for
checking power usage of lights and appliances)

Energy assessment and changes: It starts out
with the purchase of a Kill-A-Watt meter. It allows you to plug things in to
it, plug the Kill-A-Watt into the wall and see how much power that item is
using. Also, it has the ability to record, for up to 99 hours, how much power
was used if it is a device that cycles, on and off, like a freezer or a
refrigerator, but only works with 110-volt items. (Not the clothes dryer or
kitchen range)

I went on the holy quest of power saving. I knew how much power
the lights used and some of the other items in the house. Most devices have the
power consumption sticker on the bottom of it or on its wall transformer. (EB
Note these stickers show the maximum power rating, not actual power draw, but they do give you a starting point.)

I
started a excel spreadsheet of listing everything in the house plugged in the
wall from the lights to the cell phone. After finding out about the usage rate
of power, I started a second column with the number of hours each device was
used. I mean I checked everything. On some of the devices, I had to use the
recording feature on the Kill-A-Watt meter for the refrigerator since it
doesn’t run all the time.

I start to see where my money was going by checking
the main electric meter outside on the house every day. I came home I walked
right by it so I would write down the reading. By reading my monthly electric bill,
I was able to make another spreadsheet giving the approximate price of the
electric power and the other charges incurred and could calculate my monthly
bill day by day though out the month.

Each day we would become more aware of
what we were spending and started changing our habits. But, most of this was
guessing, because of the 220 volt appliances that I could not measure. I used
some creative formulas and they were approximates. We started to see where the
money was going.

In March of 2007, we started changing out our old incandescent
bulbs for CFL's. We changed about two every 2 weeks or about four a month. We
tried three different brands of bulbs; one worked OK but had a long warm up
time and one of them failed in less than 3 months. Second brand we tried was
the Philips bulb they looked like regular light bulbs, kind of. They also had a
long warm up time. They were equal to 60-watt light bulbs.

A little later we tried,
the GE coiled type lights and the first one were daylight color and I did not
care for that effect so we got some soft white lights and I liked those. The GE
CFL’s seemed to have a faster warm up time and a little less wattage than the
Philips bulbs. By another observation, we saw that the ones equal to 40-watt
bulbs were pretty much instant light with no warm up time. They gave, for the
most part, just about the same light as the 60-watt equal ones.

By July, we had
most of the lights changed out. All lights were changed out, even the lights I
considered short time usage lights, like bathroom, closets, utility room, rooms
that you are not in very long.

This year too was the first year we tried out
the window insulation kits; we stuck them on all the windows in the
house. It did not take too many days, watching the plastic move in and out, to
see the windows were leaking worse than I thought.

That year was the best the
heating bills we had ever been. I also bought the book form amazon.com on how
to put your house on an energy diet. It got a lot of good clues for finding
wasting energy and some good laughs along the way.

Replacement of the
washing machine: a clear case of had too, the bottom stabilizer springs broke
and the drum almost fell though the bottom, yeah shot. A family member, who had
done a lot of research and went to see a demo of the Fisher & Paykel
washers was impressed and bought one.

People don’t normally brag about there
washing machines, but this machine is impressive. I had to go see for myself
and, sure enough, it was true. At $600, it was a little pricey but, after using
it for about 6 months I say it had really paid for itself. It spins out a lot
more of the water that normal ones leave behind.

With more water spun out it
does not take as long to dry the clothes. Example it used to take 90 minute to
dry a load of towels, now only take 45 minutes that less drying time, at 5,000
watts per hour, that is money in the bank.

Replacement of the microwave now,
knowing the cost of the wattage, and our old one was having some problem, we
bought a lesser wattage one not a lot smaller but 800 watts less. A microwave
is not used for long periods of time but every little bit helps.

Replacement of
the coffee maker: the old one died off and was an energy hog. The new one had a
neat feature there was a thermal pitcher and no bottom heating element that
stays hot. When this one is done, the power goes off and the coffee stays warm
in the thermal pitcher and does not go bitter.

A new tool in my arsenal is the
TED meter(The Energy Dective meter), a neat little device it has a
transmitter that sits in the main panel of your breaker box and has 2 leads
that clip over your main lead from your outside meter. Then 2 more wires /
leads that connect to a breaker and to the neutral bar in the box and you put
the cover back on.

When you plug the display in somewhere, you get a signal and
it will show all power that is being used in your house right now, this second.
When programmed correctly it will estimate your monthly electric bill and show
your daily usage. That’s the big one for us. It is kind of a game here trying
to see if we can get our daily usage lower than yesterday or the day before. We
see what the big appliances are using. It keeps a history for 13 months (so
they say) I have not had it long enough to verify that. It has alarms so you
know when you have broke or went over the level you have set for yourself. It
also a great tattle tail if someone left something on all day or all night.

Revision 12 (2009)

Goal
for next year is to finish replacing the other windows in the house and finish insulating the last two walls.

Doors: the old sliding glass door was better than the leaky
window we started with but sometimes the door would freeze shut telling me that
there were air leaks and the rollers were wearing out. We opted for a French
door style door that was also a thermal door. After its installation, I removed
the old original door (solid pine door with the window) that was no longer
needed and filled it with insulation and covered the hole up.

Exterior upgrades
to the house: well here goes cheap guy again I got a pair of aluminum roll up
awnings given to me from a family member. I installed them on the two west
windows on the house, so they would shade the windows.

They make the house
cooler in the summertime by reducing the solar build up. They roll up to allow
the full effects of the sun in during the winter. This really helped the
heating and cooling bills.

In the summer time, the awnings made about 15 to 20
% difference. In the wintertime, I am not really sure how much but it did some
good, plus they helped save the glass windows during one really bad hailstorm.

The
next thing I did to help reduce the summer time solar build up of heat I
installed some reflective film on the windows. I had read about it on the
internet, and watching on those home improvement shows on TV.

I put it on the
two west windows and the new French doors and that really did make a difference
about 10 to 20 % on the cooling bill, heating bill not really sure. With so
many improvements to the house, it was hard to keep track on the heating part.

Revision 7 (2004) Summary

Upgrade to
guest room

Installed blown insulation from inside the room through sheetrock
(equivalent to R-13)

Filled top hole from insulation install with expanding foam and then
used joint compound over it then wall border.

Caulked around window

Painting

Revision 7 – Description of Work and
Results

Upgrade to the guest room: we started out by drilling holes in the
interior walls about 3 to 4 inches down from the ceiling to miss the top plate
and double plate. We also drilled a hole up about 3 foot from the floor a
second hole between each stud. This allowed me to blow insulation in to the
walls.

Then later we covered the bottom holes with some bead board paneling
about 4 foot high and added chair rail to it on top. We installed crown molding
2 ½ inch and the used some expanding foam to fill the hole at the top. Once the
foam was solid, I dug some of it out or pushed it in a bit, so I could fill the
rest of the hole with joint compound. I did not have to do a real good job on
it because we were going to cover it with wall border.

Since it is not a room
we use a lot I don’t know how much energy we saved but the room is a sure lot
quieter so it has got to be doing something. This was a room we could
experiment with. If it did not work out, we could gut it and start over.

Filled top hole from insulation install with expanding
foam and then used joint compound over it then wall border.

Caulked around
window

Painting

Revision 8 Description
of Work and Results

Window glazing:
Since the windows were as old as the house 53 years old, the old glazing was
cracking and falling off causing leaks around the glass. Yes, I know how to
glaze a new pane in but with the old windows, it just didn’t seem worthwhile.

So, I use a silicon caulking that stays flexible and will expand and shrink
with the wood and sticks to it. Man did that ever make our bedroom quieter with
a fairly busy street outside of it. That winter we really notice the room was a
lot warmer and that year’s highest heating bill was only $117 so it did save
energy.

Master bedroom upgrade: we
did the same thing to this room as we did to the guest room. And noticed it was
a lot warmer room that year, and quieter.

There
is one more article in this series so stay tuned for the final one.

September 13, 2008

This is the second of a
series of articles giving an actual example of what can be done to convert a
drafty old house into an efficient and comfortable home.

Dan, one of our readers
from Kansas, graciously provided the information. Thanks go to
Dan’s great record keeping and willingness to share his story.

Revision 3 (2000) Summary

Appliance
upgrades

Replacement of washing machine (1999 Amana) (0.235 KWh)

Replacement of
clothes dryer (1999 Amana) (5.0 KWh)

Replacement of refrigerator (1999 Amana)
(0.68 KWh)

Replacement of microwave oven ( 2000 Amana) (1.8 KWh)

Replacement of
gas stove (magic chef pilot-less burners and oven)

Revision 3 – Description of Work and Results

Appliance upgrades;
well it was a matter of I had never owned any new appliances and the washer
just crapped out. I went out to the local dent and ding place and got a new one
for $225 and while I was there got a new matching dryer for $225 what a deal
few scratches and ding here and there what the heck only one of them you could
see when it was installed, and they end up getting scratched or dented some
time.

They were more efficient than the old 20 year old ones I had. Not really
sure how much they save me in energy bills but it did not take as long to do
the clothes, so it saved some with less run time.

Within a week the
refrigerator froze up again the pipe on the outside was iced over and the
refrigerator would not keep milk, Yep it is time to replace it too and since I
was doing a lot of computer work on the side I had the money.

Saved money? Not
sure went from a 15 cubic foot freezer on top to 25 cubic foot freezer on
bottom. Yep you guessed it back to the dent and ding store. Might of saved
money if I would have bought the same size I had but couldn’t stop myself. They
may both use the same about of energy but one was a lot bigger than the other.
And, it would mean fewer trips to the grocery store.

About 2 weeks later the
microwave oven died with no warning and since all the other new appliances were
Amana and I like the quality, I bought an Amana microwave (since the radar
range back in the 70’s surely they knew what they were doing.)

So washer died
and the dryer was not far from it too then the refrigerator freezing up and the
microwave dying better get a stove before it dies off. In the interest of
creating less heat in the summer time I wanted pilot-less range. I don’t need
the heat or the gas bill from them burning and with the improved safety of pilot-less.

Nope it was not a dent and ding special. From listening to my friends talk
about how high there gas bills were and how cheap my had been I was not
complaining.

Replacement of gas water heater 30
gallon with electric 40 gallon water heater.

Installation of R-13 insulation on
all north walls

Auxiliary heating unit

Installed blue flame natural gas heater
to living room as supplemental heating. (Does not need electric to run during
ice storms and power outages) also helps keep the chill off the room from usage
of front door. And keeps the central unit from coming on unnecessary because of
fanning front door.

Revision 4 –
Description of work and results

Roof replacement: well this was modular
type house that had come from somewhere down south were snow load didn’t mean
anything nor insulation. Some of the north and south outer rooms ceiling joist
ran north and south but the inter rooms ran east and west and not wanting to
replace the ceilings I had took off the rafters and left the ceiling joist. And
framed them in and set a new top plate and set the new trusses on that and
ending up with only one ridgeline at the top pointing north and south.

I
installed one of those fiberglass mesh ridge vents to let the heat out at the
peak. (Did it work? I don’t really know.) I added 11 soffit vents on each side
of the roof did not know if that was to much or not but the less solar heat
buildup the better.

The house has all of the duct work in the attic and it was
rusted out. I need to replace 90% of it so why not replace it all. The furnace
was about 20 to 25 years old and under sized. Plus it was very inefficient
energy wise, and the A-coil drain line had been plugged up and it rusted out
the bottom of the furnace so I replaced it with a furnace with a 96 % efficient
one.

With all the moving things around the water heater was starting to leak. The gas hot water heater was not too awful old, it was new enough to have an energy
sticker on it so my guess was about 4 years old. But, it looked older than that.
So a electric one was on the horizon, no pilot light (less waste of gas) and
the electric one seem to heat water a lot faster, a lot faster about 15 to 20
minute for hot water to take a shower.

(Energy boomer comment: Normally gas water heaters heat up faster than electrics, so the old one must have had a lot of scale and sludge in it.)

In about a month the gas company came and change
out my gas meter saying that it was reading slow and I was not paying for all
the gas I had to be using. Then they socked me with a $160 dollar gas bill
based on the previous year’s usage when I contacted them and told them of the
upgrades I had made and now using electric to heat my water they were not
impressed and I still had to pay the bill. In the following month, I see about
a 50% decrease in my gas bill. Thanks Kansas Gas service for nothing.

That year we had a really
bad ice storm and the power was out for over eleven hours. Since I had central
heat there was no heat because there was no electric to turn it on and blow it
around. After having to camp out at the family’s house for the night, I swore
that would not happen again.

That weekend I bought a Blue Flame natural gas heater (vent less type) and installed it in the living room. Worst case we
could camp out in the living room, close off the other rooms and still stay
warm electric or no electric.

Plus I used it as supplemental heat since it was
suppose to be 99% efficient I set it so it would keep the house warm in the
winter time while we were gone to work it would keep the house about 65 degrees
and when we got home I would turn on the main unit to 72 degrees and turn it
back in the morning when we left for work. Also, if the power went out while I
was at work I knew the house would still be warm when I got home.

Doing this I
was able to save about $40 a month on my heating bill, the house stays warm and
the main unit blower (530 watts) was not running though out the day.

Also
during this revision we had to steal the siding off of the north end of the
house to finish the gable on the south end of the house. Since they don’t make
that style siding any more we put on a little different type of the same color
but most of the time you don’t see two sides at the same time and from the
street you can’t tell they are different. While the siding was off, we
installed R-13 rolled insulation on all of the north walls.

I went with the windows units
because this is a 3-bedroom house and there are only 2 of us in the house.
Window units allow us to cool by zones. Cooler in the bedroom to sleep by and
warmer in the living room and cooler in the computer room where we spend most
of our time. We closed off the guest room most of the time that shrinks down
the cooling area.

All the units are energy star compliant.Since the summer here gets up to 115 degrees
and the humidity gets up to 98% it gets pretty sticky here. Plus, to install
the new AC compressor and charge it up they wanted $2200.

Being the cheap guy,
I opted for the window units, one of them was $115 and the other one was $129
and the last one was only $239 so they are cheaper to buy. This year was the
first year we ever had an electric bill over $200.

To avoid heating the house
up in the summer time we cook out on the gas grill. That saves heating the
house for the ac unit to cool back down.

Also, during the revisions this year I
had bought a 220v timer for the hot water tank, from my research some people told
me I would not save any money and would spend more money heating water. Others
told me that it would save money if there was only 2 of us and if we took our
shower about the same time.

Well the results are in without the timer we used
58 KWh per day and with the timer we use 32 KWh a day. Sometimes we used as
much as 38 KWh a day, but a heck of a lot better than 58 KWh.

Also, we started
using cold water to wash clothes with except for towels and stuff like that.
Hearing horror stories of other people having $400 and $500 electric bills I
felt pretty good about that.

I also set the temperature on the hot water heater
to 120 degrees and double insulated it with a hot water heater blanket.

Another
thingwas, I also added a whole house
water filter system. The water here is very hard and has a lot of calcium in
it. Scale builds up in the bottom of hot water heater tank and since gas heats
from the bottom and electric heats in the middle and top and bottom. I have not
been having to heat though the lime and calcium scale to heat my water.

There
are two more articles in this series so stay tuned for the next one.

September 08, 2008

This is the first of a
series of articles giving an actual example of what can be done to convert a
drafty old house into an efficient and comfortable home.

Dan, one of our readers
from Kansas, graciously provided the information. Thanks go to
Dan’s great record keeping and his willingness to share his story.

His success
story provides us with a plan of action that many of us can use to save money
on utility bills. Some of the revisions to the house are more than I would take
on, with my meager tool skills, but many are items that most of could do
ourselves.

This log of the work done, over the course of several years, comes
directly from Dan’s records. The story starts when Dan acquired a 1953 vintage
house that had little done to it since it was built.

Description of the house before work began

3 bedrooms, 1 bath, 1
utility room / washer and dryer hook ups

Central heat / air 2.5 ton unit (1978)

30
gallon natural gas water heater (1989)

Floor space approx 1,000 sq ft

Blown
insulation only in the atticXOriginal roof was 12-3, pitch roof bungalow style

Windows was on south side
of house were leaky, and wanting to put the tub and shower there, I did not
want a window in the middle of my new fiberglass shower wall. The window had to
go. But, with that being so, I had to install an exhaust fan in the room to
meet code.

Also, by insulating all four walls you help with noise and humidity
issues. None of the walls had any insulation to start with.

In upgrading the
showerhead and faucets, I was not really thinking about water conservation at
time. But, the water bill did drop about 5% so money saved. I also installed a toilet tank liner kit. Basically, it is 3/8 Styrofoam sheets that you glue to the
inside of the tank. No real energy saving value, except for a little water
displacement, but the tank doesn’t sweat any more. (It reduces the water volume
of the tank reducing the water used per flush.)

Revision 2 (also 1999)Summary

Exterior
modification

Removal of south windows ( 2 ) 60 x 32 with storm windows. And
filled the hole from windows with R-13 insulation and sheathing and siding

Removal
of living room’s 9 pane (60 x 96) windows with out storm windows and replaced using
recycled windows (60 x 32) that had been removed from the south side windows
with storm windows.

Removal north (2) 60 x 32 windows with storm door windows. And filled
the hole from windows with R-13 insulation and sheathing and siding

Revision 2 – Description of Work and
Results

Removal of south windows made some sense, as the house next door
was only 18 feet away. I didn’t want the lights from vehicles shinning through
it and the noise, and I didn’t think I would miss the view the neighbor’s
house. The other was because of the closeness of the neighbor’s garage with an
automatic light. Enough said there that why it’s gone.

Removal of living room
windows, that was the big money saver. There the window was 8’ wide and 5'
tall with 9 individual pieces of glass and over time settling and a little dry
rot due to the sweating windows, they leaked big time (if you were sitting on
the couch you had to were a coat or blanket just to keep warm) draft and
sweating was really bad.

“Want not, waste not”. I re-used the 2 windows I took
out of the south end of the house, used them in place if the big window that
had no storm window (approx cost to have one made would have been about $300.
Too expensive).

I had fairly good windows that I had just taken out and little
paint and caulking and they would be in good shape. Plus, I insulated around
the wall where I could get to with R-13 rolled insulation.

Removal of dining room window was about
the same thing but it was a little smaller, 8’ wide and 3’ tall but, I was out
of spare windows.I bought a used
sliding glass door (6 footer for $20 with double walled glass). It was better
than the leaky windows that were rotting out the floor and wall. While doing
this I insulated the surrounding wall with R-13 rolled insulation.

With those 2
simple things (kind of simple), I bet I save $200 that winter alone and you did
not have to wear a coat on the couch any more.

There are three more articles in this series so stay tuned for the next one.

July 18, 2008

Introducing part two of series on saving on heating and cooling your home by fixing your crawl space. In part one, we learned why crawl spaces are a big energy waster and that building code regulations may influence what you can do about them. Part two gives us an action plan of just what to do to stop moisture problems and save energy.

This is guest written by Cynthia Freeney, who is a content developer at Basement Systems Inc the world’s leading developer and provider of basement waterproofing, crawl space encapsulation, foundation repair and basement finishing solutions.

How to keep moisture out of your crawl space.

Now that we talked about problems caused by dirt and vented crawl spaces, we are ready to discuss the ways to solve them. And as you will see, you can reap all the benefits in health and savings without going through expensive and disruptive home improvement projects like the ones you’d eventually have to face if the crawl space was left open (replacing rotten or termite infested floor joists, flooring, carpet, mold removal jobs, etc…). But here’s some advice:

You can only do it yourself if:

You have the time and motivation

You are not claustrophobic

You don’t mind getting dirty

You have the tools required

You can get the right materials

You aren’t afraid of bugs being on you

You are physically fit.

Otherwise, find a good, reliable, and experienced contractor to do the job. Especially if you have combustion appliances (water heater, furnace) in the crawl space. And consider this as an investment that will pay for itself in energy savings alone.

There are 3 steps to completely avoid the problems caused by dirt and vented crawl spaces, and keep them from ruining your home, health and budget:

Step One – Locate and fix any existing water leakage

Step Two – Isolate the house from the earth

Step Three – Seal the vents.

Fixing Ground Water Leaks

Fixing ground water leakage means locating the source and providing a reliable drainage system to get the water out and away from your foundation. Check your crawl space for puddles, water marks or erosion patterns that might indicate water infiltration.

If there is ground water leakage, the next step is to have a sump pump installed and have the water diverted to it. The sump pump needs to be placed in a sump liner at the lowest part of the crawl space. Dirt can be moved around as to level up the other areas so that the water is diverted to the sump pump.

The choice of sump pumps and liners here will determine how efficient the drainage system is. We recommend at least a cast-iron sump pump, fitted in a sturdy perforated sump liner. The liner needs a sturdy airtight lid that will keep the water contained in the liner from evaporating back into your crawl space.

The ideal system would include a battery operated back up sump pump, which will work in case of power outages. Add an alarm for extra peace of mind. Basement Systems Inc. offers the UltraSump System that includes a battery operated back up pump, capable of pumping over 11000 gallons out of your crawl space, from the energy stored in the specially sealed, long-term standby battery.

Second Step: Isolate the house from the earth.

After solving your water leakage problem, and creating a good diverting route for any incoming water, the next step is to completely isolate your house from the earth. This is done by using a plastic crawl space liner. This will keep the moisture from the earth and outside air out of the crawl space.

Some building codes ask for the liner to be at least 6mil thick. 6 mil plastic is what many contractors use, because it is easy to find and relatively inexpensive. But, 6 mil liners are also known to rip as people crawl over them and they can be pulled down from the walls way too easily.

This is something to keep in mind if you have things like a water heater in your crawl space and need to crawl in frequently to maintain it. You might need to replace or repair the liner every time. I also don’t believe that any 6 mil liners have UV protection and thus become brittle and deteriorate within a couple years.

The best approach here is to choose thick, puncture-proof 20 mil liners like the CleanSpace. It was developed exclusively for this purpose. CleanSpace has multiple layers, is UV protected, and treated with a safe anti-microbial component that prevents mold growth.

A CleanSpace lined crawl space can be used as storage, something that home owners would never think of doing in a dirt crawl space.

Whatever your choice, be sure to remove any organic materials from the surface before installing the liner, as well as rocks, sharp objects, etc. Even if your liner is puncture proof, you wouldn’t want to kneel on these things when crawling around your encapsulated crawl space. We recommend you use mechanical fasteners, rather than just plain adhesives to hold the plastic over concrete walls. And then use mastic tape to completely seal the seams.

You really want to keep the outside air out year round. In the winter due to cold air infiltration and in the summer due to high humidity and potential moisture build up. Trust me: your home will do much better without all that “fresh” outdoor air coming in through those vents for all the reasons we discussed in this series of posts.

Therefore, go ahead and seal the crawl space vents. The easiest way to do it is with CleanSpace vent covers. Make sure the doors or access hatches you use to get inside the crawl space are also sealed tight. Then proceed to seal every possible seam and joint that might allow the air to get in.

Depending on where you live and how bad the moisture is year round, you might want to install a dehumidifier in your crawl space. In some cases, a simple and less-expensive crawl space conditioning system like the Crawl-O-Sphere may suffice.

Attention! Crawl Space Don’t’s:

Don’t put a vapor barrier or rigid insulation board on the ceiling of your crawl space (unless your home is on stilts).

Don’t close the vents without sealing the earth off.

Don’t seal the earth off without closing the vents.

Never use a fan to blow outside air into your crawl space.

Don’t install a liner (or concrete) without removing all organic material from the dirt floor first.

Don’t depressurize a space that has combustion appliances (furnace, water heater) in it (more than one pascal). Those appliances need a consistent supply of air to burn. Some newer models come with venting ducts but for the old ones you will need to provide air vents, preferably installed in the ceiling of your crawl space as to suck in air from the floor above.A combustion air supply unit, like the “In-forcer” (www.tjernlund.com) is another good option. A carbon monoxide detector is also a must in those cases. If you’re not sure on how to do it properly and safely, please contact a crawl space encapsulation professional.

July 16, 2008

Introducing a two part
series on saving on heating and cooling your home by fixing your crawl space.
Our last house had a crawl space under the living room that was a headache for
me. My solution was to have my son-in-law crawl in to replace the dead sump
pump. I also added a crawl space exhaust fan to move air to the outdoors. The
exhaust fan did dry up the crawl space but cost more on the electric and
heating bills.

If your crawl space looks something like this photograph then
you can save energy and your money. These two articles explain there is a
better way that does save energy.

Both of these two posts are guest written by Cynthia
Freeney, who is a content developer at Basement Systems Inc the world’s leading
developer and provider of basement waterproofing, crawl space encapsulation,
foundation repair and basement finishing solutions.

Part One

Would you like to save some real money on heating and
cooling your home? Worried about your electricity bill and the rising costs of
fuel? How does 15% to 35% savings on energy sound?

Well, if you have dirt
and/or vented crawl space, this is also the amount of money you are wasting.
Money that I am sure you’d like to keep in your pocket or find a better use
for.

Dirt floor and vented crawl spaces are the source of so many problems,
that they’ve been called a true “housing epidemic”. They trap in moisture from
the ground and from the air, and allow mold to grow, wooden structures and
insulation to rot, moisture loving pests to move in and remain virtually
undetected until some serious damage is done.

They are also the source of many
allergy related illnesses, because, thanks to the laws of physics, your family
is breathing that damp, filthy (sometimes even toxic) crawl space air with all
its airborne mold spores and dust mite pellets (the two main indoor allergens).

Allow me to explain how this works:

The
heated air inside the house tends to rise (remember why hot air balloons fly?)
and escape through the upper levels of the house. As it happens, this air must
be replenished with “new” or “makeup” air from the outside that is sucked in at
the lower levels of the house, meaning your crawl space or basement. It is
called a “stack effect”.

How does the crawl space air get into your home? As it
turns out, air is a very small thing and will get in through just about any
opening, and will bring with it all the allergens and contaminants currently
lurking in the crawl space.

So if you have a dirt and/or vented crawl space,
1/3 of the air you breathe in your home, is coming from there.

But, what does it have to do with your
energy bills?

Well, crawl space air is humid, damp air and that moisture is
brought indoors by the stack effect. And, humid air costs a lot more to heat
and cool - 15% to 35% more, depending on how big your crawl space is, how big
and how many levels your home has.

If you have ducts running through the crawl
space, the energy loss can be even more significant, (up to 50%), due to duct
leakage and condensation.

Before
we get to the proper techniques to close and encapsulate a crawl space, we will
need to talk a bit about building science and the logic behind some regional
building codes because, when trying to fix your crawl space, you might find out
that your local building code either allows it only under specific conditions
or strictly forbids it.

Building codes are, in most part, the reason why
today’s buildings are safer than ever. But, when it comes to crawl spaces, many
local building codes across the U.S. are still stuck in the old ways of doing things.
They disregard dozens of reputable studies by independent organizations such as
Building Science Corp., Advanced Energy and common sense.

Why some building
codes still think it is a good idea to treat a crawl space differently from a
basement, is something hard to understand. If it doesn’t make sense for you to
keep your basement windows open during the winter, why do they think it is a
good idea to leave the crawl space open? The laws of physics that regulate air
and moisture flow remain the same, whether your home stands over a basement or
a crawl space.

Fortunately, more and more building codes around the country are
adhering to the new technologies and hopefully, vented and dirt floor crawl
spaces will soon become a thing of the past.

So, now you’ve checked your local
building codes, hopefully you’ve got their OK, and you want to go ahead and
have your crawl space encapsulated.

Our next post will show you the proper
techniques and technologies to do it.

April 04, 2008

Some folks are in a spring cleaning mode. It is great to get working on our spring “to do list.” Here are a few energy related items for your list.

• Take the cover off the outdoor part of your air conditioner, if you use one.

• Clean all the dead leaves and grass well away from your air conditioner. Make sure there is no wind blown trash blocking the coils.

• You should be able to walk completely around the outdoor part of your central air conditioner without touching any branches on bushes or shrubs. Your Air Conditioner needs to breathe fresh air for it to run at its best efficiency. Trim the bushes back now if needed.

• Clean out the drain hole on your window air conditioner so the water can drain outside.

• If April Showers keep you indoors, change or wash the air filter on your AC and furnace.

• Dust the light bulbs to give more light. This will not save energy but, it will give you a brighter out look on a rainy day.

October 07, 2007

If you don’t prepare for the upcoming heating season it will cost you more than ever. Insulating and weather sealing your home now will save you cash on your energy bills.

According to the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association folks, in the USA, will pay more for home heating this year.

Home heating-fuel expenses this winter will be highest for heating oil.

The average family, using heating oil, will be paying $1,834 for the season. That is up 28 percent or $402 from last year.

The group expects propane costs to average $1,732, up 30 percent or $384.

Folks who rely on electricity for heat will pay $883 this winter, up 7 percent or $58.

Natural gas expenses will be the cheapest of the major heating fuels, averaging $881, up 5 percent or $50, the group said.

Comment from the Energy Boomer:

Folks who heat with electric power pay less than folks who heat with oil or propane because:

• Their homes are insulated better
• Their homes are weather sealed better
• They get a special billing rate for heating
• All of the above

Spending money now to reduce your heating bills is a very good investment this year. Many money saving tasks can be do-it-yourself projects. Save some of your cash instead of watching the football game half time commercials.

For more information, on what to do to cut your energy bills, Click in the topics listed below:

September 27, 2007

In most homes, the heating bill is directly related two things: They are the amount of outdoor air that gets in and how well the house is insulated.

• The less outdoor air that can sneak in the lower the heating and air conditioning cost will be.

• The more insulation your house has the lower your energy bills will be for both heating and air conditioning.

Attic insulation

12 inches of fiberglass insulation in the attic is pretty much standard now days. If you have less add more. Even more is better. Use your personal protective safety equipment especially gloves and a dust mask to prevent inhaling fibers. Look at what you have before you buy. Notice where the paper backing is on the insulation you now have, is it on top or bottom of the insulation? Is there a layer of foil or plastic as a vapor barrier? Where is it located? Then go talk to the folks at the building supply store. Follow their suggestions about what to use and how to put in the additional insulation. More insulation is likely to be worth the cost and effort because it helps both summer air conditioning and winter heating bills. For more about insulation click here.

Storm Doors

Replace the screen in doors with safety glass or clear plastic for the winter to make a storm door.

If you have a screen door but do not have the glass panes to replace the screen you can cover the screen area with clear plastic film. Your friendly hardware store or building supply can help with clear plastic films to convert a screen door into a storm door. If you think this looks tacky just use several of your magic markers to color areas of the plastic film to look like stained glass. How classy is that?

Or you can cut out new clear Lexan or Plexiglas panes to replace the screen sections. For safety you need to use unbreakable “Safety Glass” or plastic on all doors.

Make sure that the storm door closes and latches tight. Check the weather striping on the top, bottom and both sides, fix or replace as needed.

Adjust or replace the door closer if it does not get the job done.
Check the latch to make sure that the storm door stays completely closed when the wind blows.

Caulk any gaps around the frame of the storm door. Any gap between the door frame and house wall should be sealed.

Security doors

Just like the outer storm door the main doors that you close and lock needs to fit in the frame well and latch with no air leaks around them. Check the weather stripping on the top, bottom, and both sides. Fix or replace weather stripping as needed to block the cold air. Click here to read more about weather stripping.

Make sure that any windows in the door don’t have loose glass. Caulk or putty around the window if needed.

Check around the door frame. Feel for air leakage. Caulk or seal any openings that let air sneak through. Take a close look where the door frame meets the building wall. If you can get a tooth pick or bent paper clip into the gap it needs to be caulked.

When it is time to replace a door make sure that you get a good quality insulated energy star replacement door.

Windows

If you have storm windows use them. The self storing aluminum frame storm windows are not the best energy savers but they are safer than using a ladder to put on the storm windows. Every layer of glass helps to keep the heat in so use them. The newer wood or vinyl frame windows are better energy leak stoppers. Your friendly hardware store or building supply can help with clear plastic films to convert window screens into storm windows. Click here to read more about using clear plastic film to make storm windows.

Lock the window closed. On double hung windows if the lock doesn’t line up it means that either the top sash as slid down a little or the bottom sash isn’t down tight. On most types of windows the lock helps to squeeze the window closed so lock it.

Make sure that each window section closes completely. Check around all four sides of each window sash or section. If you find even a small air leak fix it or install weather stripping to stop the air sneaking through.

Check all around the window frames. Check top, bottom and both sides. Check both inside and outdoors. Use a small flash light, even on a sunny day. This helps focus your attention at one small area at a time. Look for any little gaps, cracks or openings that need to be caulked or sealed. Take what you need to seal them up as you go. Wear a tool belt and take the radio with you to listen to your favorite team loose again.

Warning the hornets or wasps may have already found the good entry points and set up house keeping. If you find insects around a hole in the wall you can bet they are planning to enjoy the warm air from your furnace that is leaking out. Wait until after dark and spray in to the insect nest so you get them when they are all at home and a sleep. Don’t forget the flash light. The next day, after the excitement has died down, seal the hole to keep the insects from returning and to seal your heat in. Click here to read more about caulking.

You may want to add a layer of savings on the inside of some of your windows with plastic films. Basement windows and back entry way windows may be good candidates for this treatment as it may not look great but it will help save on the heating bill. When spring arrives peel them off carefully so they can be recycled next fall. 3M Scotch brand and others make good easy to use supplies for this job. You can use clear 4 mil thick vinyl on the outside or clear heat shrink plastic film on the inside. Click here to read more about adding clear plastic on the inside of your windows.

We use window quilts on the coldest winter nights. My wife makes simple quilts that we hang or Velcro to the window frame to keep warm on sub zero nights. Store bought window quilts used to be available with a layer of space age reflective plastic vapor barrier film in them. You can make quilts so they match the décor of your home if you like. They all look good to me when the lights are out. (Tip from the expert; use already bleached fabric on the side that gets the sunshine or the sun will bleach it for you.) Take the quilts down in the morning to enjoy the snowy scenery. They do muffle the noise of snow blowers and plows if you want to sleep in. Talk to me, I get a commission on all orders. Click here to read about How to make window quilts.

More Tips

Replace or wash your furnace filter to keep the efficiency up.

Shut off the bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans off as soon as you can. When you push air out of the house cold outdoor air will get in to replace it.

Keep some moisture in the house to make it feel warmer. Grow plants that you can water. Have a pet fish in an aquarium. Boil water for a hot cup of tea, coffee or cocoa. Spiced hot apple cider and hot buttered rum are both good too.

Shut the heat off to rooms that you don’t use like the extra bedroom. This way the in laws can’t stay over.

Close chimney dampers and seal off unused fireplaces.

Use ceiling fans to circulate warm air to keep an even temperature in the house.

Keep the thermostst low. Turn it down at bed time. Turn it down when no one is home. Turn it down when the sun shines. Turn it way down when your mother in law visits. Turn it down during Monday night football. Turn it down during TV hockey games to get the feel of being at the rink. Just turn it down and buy a new sweater with the money you save.

Use a quilt or an electric blanket and turn the thermostat down even more at bed time.

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September 12, 2007

The other day my wife and I were talking at the dining room table. Yes, I actually do talk with my wife occasionally. We started counting the ways that she saves energy in our house.

She insulates the house by filling the bookcases and piling up quilting books and magazine along the walls. I wonder what the R factor is for 10 inches of books and magazines.

She insulates other walls of the house with boxes of fabric for future quilting projects. She keeps her ever growing fabric stash in plastic tote boxes all organized by some esoteric color matching scheme. Anyway, the upstairs walls now have thick fabric insulation.

She insulates other walls by displaying finished quilts hung on horizontal poles that are my job to furnish. Then she tells me that we need more walls.

She insulates the beds with nice warm quilts that allow us to keep the thermostat low on winter nights. This is purrrrfectly fine with me.

She closes the windows that I open for fresh air in the winter. She claims that a six-inch snowdrift on the windowsill is too much.

She actually wears sweaters, socks and her lamb’s wool lined slippers around the house to keep warm in spite of the padlock that I put on the thermostat. When she wears her down filled parka, in the house, I know that the thermostat is set too low.

She warms her hands, on her sewing machine light bulb, so frozen fingers will not stop progress on the next quilt. If her fingers do get frozen, she thaws them out by wrapping them around a mug of hot tea.

She makes window quilts that we hang up to block the cold winter air on frigid nights.

Use the microwave to cook small meals. (It uses less energy than an oven.)

Plant deciduous trees on the south and west sides of your home. They provide cooling shade in the summer and allow warming sun light in after the leaves fall. Plant evergreen trees to act as a wind break to the north of your house. Trees capture carbon dioxide from the air and release oxygen for us to breathe.

Recycle paper, plastic, glass bottles, cardboard and aluminum cans. (This conserves energy and reduces production emissions because less energy is needed to remake these products than to make them from the basic raw materials.)

March 14, 2007

The answer is yes if you have any of the following: Remote control, cell phone charger, instant-on TV, cordless phone, VCR or phone answering machine

Most electronic appliances use power while the off button is pushed. These small power thieves are costly because there are so many of them taking power all the time. They use power 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

So what do you look for?

Look for anything that has a digital display or a remote control. Look for anything that has and adapter that is plugged in to a wall outlet.

Perhaps the most common item is the cell phone charger. A “wall cube” plugs into an outlet. A small power cord plugs into your cell phone. Most of us leave these wall warts plugged in all day. They use power even when your cell phone is in your pocket.

Some items, like your security system must stay on all the time. Plus you do not want to “unplug” items that need to be programmed when the power is restored. You can save on your electric bill by unplugging the wall wart when you take your cell phone with you.

An example of a way to save is the power strip on my computer table. Everything at my home computer workstation plugs into it. When I am done with the computer, I flip one switch on the power strip. When I flip that switch I cut my computer, monitor, printer, scanner, and cable modem off from the electric meter.

Another example is some folks plug all their TV equipment into an outlet that they control with a wall switch. Folks usually use wall switch controlled outlets for lamps. It is OK to take control of your entertainment center this way. Leave your VCR plugged into a live outlet so you do not need to reset the clock when you want to record a TV show.

Some big screen TV sets use more stand-by power, than your refrigerator.

The problem of phantom power loads is even bigger at work.

The idle power load in most offices is as much as 40% of the power used when producing at full capacity.

After you go home for the day power is used by the following: Copy machines, dust collectors, fax machines, hydraulic power units, electronic scoreboards, welding machines, drinking fountains and many many more.

How would management react if your production line made scrap while it was scheduled down for a shift?

A similar waste of resources happens when someone leaves equipment running that should be off.

We can improve our energy productivity by powering down everything we can when the job is down.

When you finish the job, at work or at home, don’t leave the electric meter running.